In the early seventies, a young surfer named Larry Allison took a job jig sawing fins behind San Pedro Surf and sport. Little would he know, almost  forty years later, he would be one of the last truly American fin manufactures, working out of the same shop with the same people. At a time when most molding companies are making fins in Asia for mass production and profit. Larry Allison and Fibre glas fin company remain one the last fin makers and fin companies to still make their products in America, in the old way, with passion and stoke. Many have attempted to make a big industry out of fins with the growth of the surf industry, but Larry keeps on trying to make fins both functional and art.

In the summer of 1971 one of Larry’s friends, having seen his work at shop class in high school, thought he would do well making fins in the local surf factory and recommended him. The owners would take him on as apprentice and in a much shorter time than expected…would be happy with how quickly and perfectly Larry could cut the fins they were producing. This was the time of the jig saw blade and as Larry remembers…he went through more than a few of them during his daily production.

As the years would move on the company would become known as Fibre glas fin company and Larry would begin to take a more prominent role in the production of fins. He would be making fins for such companies and board craftsmen as, Town and Country, Clyde Beatty, Jeff Ho, Gordon and Smith, McCoy and Bill Barnfield among many others. Like many of the craftsmen from that area, Larry has literally worked with most of the majors and his fair share of the minors.

Some of the early break through items he remembers are was the beginning of things like California Fin systems, Foam Fins supplied through Clark Foam made from the same high density foam as the interior of Hobie Cats and being the first distributor of the Cheyne Horan Winged keel.

In the early eighties fins for surfing were steady but windsurfing fins were starting to become a hot item. Larry would end up producing wind surfing fins with a crew of twenty people until the late eighties. He would do shows in Germany as the research and development manager for Windsurfing International. Working with notable craftsmen of that area in Jim Drake, Dave Kalama and Robbie Nash. By the nineties the market began shifting and Larry began distributing fins for a company called Future fins which he did for three years until the market for single fins became good again with the rebirth of long board surfing.

As the nineties moved to the midway point he began working with Larry Block on his fin box system Red X, but stopped when the production of those fins moved over seas. He began working with a company called Lokbox in the late nineties until the turn of the century when he began working with his future partner Robin Mair who had created a new fin box system called Pro box in 2002. Larry would work on perfecting this system until he bought controlling interest in 2006. During the years from 1971 until present Larry has worked with or made fins for most of the notable craftsmen of the surfboard industry from past to present.  He has been involved to some degree with most of the major fin box companies also. There is very little he has not seen or been involved in which gives him the unique quality of having been there through most of the progression and witnessed many of the mistakes.   When board builders or customers are looking for the real deal, the 80’s term, ” who you gonna call, ” becomes obvious.

When asked to compare the seventies and early eighties with today, Larry says, “ The industry atmosphere today is not harmonious. “ In the seventies and early eighties there was a feeling of freedom that is not present today. Today, it’s much more tense. “ Progression doesn’t really look like progression. There are fancy materials, but the wow factor just isn’t there. I try and make fins that you would want to buy even if you don’t need a new fin because they pop when you look at them and make you want to go surfing. ”

He remembers during in times past, surfers bought surfboards and fins because they were beautiful and functional. Like something that would look great hanging on your wall instead of just blending into the surroundings. The magic he says is to make a fin with the same template as another fin… but for your fin to look completely different because of the workman ship and color. Plastic and plain doesn’t turn me on, colors turn me on.  ” Wow ” turns me on. He said. “

With single  fins, Larry believes the most progression came between 1974 and 1979 with regards to surfing and for wind surfing between 1982 and 1990 and for surfing itself, he believes between 1978 and 1985 were years that surfing took huge leaps in performance and style as did board design. Today Larry is still making beautiful fins in the old way, in the U.S.A. and with the same sense of wonder and stoke he had when he was a teenager.

His company pro box is on the cutting edge of versatility with regards to having a fin box system that is adjustable,  expandable and designed from scratch to have the feel of glass on fiberglass fins. He says, many materials look like fiberglass, but none project like fiberglass, which is why we designed our boxes to be primarily used with fiberglass fins.  When pressed about the future of fin materials that might give similar projection as fiberglass fins, Larry says ” bamboo with the grain placed right has a lot of potential and I am interested in the over all potential of organic fin materials. ”

In the words of David Byrne from the Talking heads: ” Same as it ever was. ”  Progression continues… as does one of the last American professional fin makers.